Assembly receptive to finance director concept

A proposal seeking to create a new administrative services and finance department for Barnstable County found receptive ears at an Assembly of Delegates committee this week.

Proposal on hold for discussions with commissioners

A proposal seeking to create a new administrative services and finance department for Barnstable County found receptive ears at an Assembly of Delegates committee this week.

The standing Committee on Governmental Regulations reviewed a proposal from Yarmouth Delegate Spyro Mitrokostas to separate out certain finance and administrative functions from the county administrator.

“There seems to be widespread consensus that the county needs a separate finance director,” Mitrokostas told the committee. “I can't find a reason not to forward this recommendation.”

Various frustrations were expressed at the inability to get answers from the county administrator or to get him before the Assembly in any regular way. Concerns over the multitude of positions held by County Administrator Mark Zielinksi have cropped up before the Assembly over the past year during its inquiry into the Cape Light Compact and Cape and Vineyard Electric Cooperative.

The proposed ordinance was submitted to County Counsel Robert Troy, who said that the Assembly lacked the authority to adopt such a change on its own through the ordinance process.

Pointing to the section of the county charter that describes the administrator’s powers, Troy observed that the powers detailed by Mitrokostas in his proposal would modify the duties of the position, something the charter makes clear can only be done through an amendment ratified by voters.

After reviewing the county charter and the proposed ordinance, Troy wrote that it “requires the conclusion that this ordinance can only be effectuated through an amendment to the charter.”

He further wrote in a July 18 opinion that the ordinance “cannot be lawfully adopted by the Assembly of Delegates through the ordinance procedure.”

The members of the government regulations committee didn’t necessarily share that opinion.

“We’re not changing the duties of the administrator,” Bergstrom said. “we’re simply saying that he should slough off the responsibility of the finance director.”

The committee chose to continue its public hearing to allow time to hear from the county commissioners on how they plan to proceed. The commissioners have two reports it requested, one from the special commission on county governance and the other from its own paid consultant, recommending that there be a separate finance director.

At the full session of the Assembly Sept. 5, Commissioners chair Mary Pat Flynn of Falmouth said that all such discussions were on hold until after the Nov. 6 general election. Flynn said that with three candidates running for two positions, it’s possible the board could change. She said it was thought that such discussions about governance and structure should wait until the composition of the three-member board was certain.

Harwich Delegate Leo Cakounes came at it from a different direction.

At the end of the Assembly’s regular session, Cakounes submitted five separate resolutions regarding the administrator’s position. In describing them earlier in the day, Cakounes said that the resolutions were designed to separate some of the duties presently held by the county administrator, but in a more negotiated manner with the county commissioners.

“I strongly feel that we need to look at this situation,” Cakounes told the committee.

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